Novel access category for low latency

ABSTRACT

In a wireless local area network system, a station (STA) may transmit a low latency queue activation signal. The STA may receive a low latency queue activation approval signal. The present invention may comprise a step for transmitting data by the STA via a low latency queue.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present specification relates to a method for signal transmissionusing an access category for low latency in a wireless local areanetwork system.

Related Art

A wireless local area network (WLAN) has been improved in various ways.For example, the IEEE 802.11ax standard proposed an improvedcommunication environment using orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA) and downlink multi-user multiple input multiple output(DL MU MIMO) techniques.

The present specification proposes a technical feature that can beutilized in a new communication standard. For example, the newcommunication standard may be an extreme high throughput (EHT) standardwhich is currently being discussed. The EHT standard may use anincreased bandwidth, an enhanced PHY layer protocol data unit (PPDU)structure, an enhanced sequence, a hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ) scheme, or the like, which is newly proposed. The EHT standardmay be called the IEEE 802.11be standard.

SUMMARY Technical Solutions

A method performed by a station (STA) in a wireless local area network(WLAN) system according to various embodiments may include technicalfeatures related to an access category for low latency. The station(STA) may transmit a low latency queue activation signal. The STA mayreceive a low latency queue activation approval signal. The STA maytransmit data via a low latency queue.

Technical Effects

According to an example of the present specification, a new accesscategory for low latency may be defined. A new access category used fortraffic requiring low latency may have a higher priority than otheraccess categories. Therefore, traffic requiring low latency can betransmitted quickly. The standard of traffic requiring low latency maybe negotiated in advance or determined by transmitting, by an AP, agrant for whether traffic is required for low latency. More resourcesmay be allocated to a STA having traffic requiring low latency.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of a transmitting apparatus and/or receivingapparatus of the present specification.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual view illustrating the structure of a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN).

FIG. 3 illustrates a general link setup process.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a PPDU used in an IEEE standard.

FIG. 5 illustrates a layout of resource units (RUs) used in a band of 20MHz.

FIG. 6 illustrates a layout of RUs used in a band of 40 MHz.

FIG. 7 illustrates a layout of RUs used in a band of 80 MHz.

FIG. 8 illustrates a structure of an HE-SIG-B field.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example in which a plurality of user STAs areallocated to the same RU through a MU-MIMO scheme.

FIG. 10 illustrates an operation based on UL-MU.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a trigger frame.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a common information field of atrigger frame.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a subfield included in a per userinformation field.

FIG. 14 describes a technical feature of the UORA scheme.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a channel used/supported/definedwithin a 2.4 GHz band.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a channel used/supported/definedwithin a 5 GHz band.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a channel used/supported/definedwithin a 6 GHz band.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of a PPDU used in the presentspecification.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of a modified transmission device and/orreceiving device of the present specification.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating four queues of EDCA.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an EDCA queue and a low latency queue.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method fortransmitting a low latency queue activation and termination signal.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method fortransmitting a low latency queue activation signal and a terminationsignal.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method fortransmitting a low latency queue activation signal and a terminationsignal.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method fortransmitting a low latency queue activation signal and a terminationsignal.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a STA operation.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of an AP operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the present specification, “A or B” may mean “only A”, “only B” or“both A and B”. In other words, in the present specification, “A or B”may be interpreted as “A and/or B”. For example, in the presentspecification, “A, B, or C” may mean “only A”, “only B”, “only C”, or“any combination of A, B, C”.

A slash (/) or comma used in the present specification may mean“and/or”. For example, “A/B” may mean “A and/or B”. Accordingly, “A/B”may mean “only A”, “only B”, or “both A and B”. For example, “A, B, C”may mean “A, B, or C”.

In the present specification, “at least one of A and B” may mean “onlyA”, “only B”, or “both A and B”. In addition, in the presentspecification, the expression “at least one of A or B” or “at least oneof A and/or B” may be interpreted as “at least one of A and B”.

In addition, in the present specification, “at least one of A, B, and C”may mean “only A”, “only B”, “only C”, or “any combination of A, B, andC”. In addition, “at least one of A, B, or C” or “at least one of A, B,and/or C” may mean “at least one of A, B, and C”.

In addition, a parenthesis used in the present specification may mean“for example”. Specifically, when indicated as “control information(EHT-signal)”, it may mean that “EHT-signal” is proposed as an exampleof the “control information”. In other words, the “control information”of the present specification is not limited to “EHT-signal”, and“EHT-signal” may be proposed as an example of the “control information”.In addition, when indicated as “control information (i.e., EHT-signal)”,it may also mean that “EHT-signal” is proposed as an example of the“control information”.

Technical features described individually in one figure in the presentspecification may be individually implemented, or may be simultaneouslyimplemented.

The following example of the present specification may be applied tovarious wireless communication systems. For example, the followingexample of the present specification may be applied to a wireless localarea network (WLAN) system. For example, the present specification maybe applied to the IEEE 802.11a/g/n/ac standard or the IEEE 802.11axstandard. In addition, the present specification may also be applied tothe newly proposed EHT standard or IEEE 802.11be standard. In addition,the example of the present specification may also be applied to a newWLA standard enhanced from the EHT standard or the IEEE 802.11bestandard. In addition, the example of the present specification may beapplied to a mobile communication system. For example, it may be appliedto a mobile communication system based on long term evolution (LTE)depending on a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standard andbased on evolution of the LTE. In addition, the example of the presentspecification may be applied to a communication system of a 5G NRstandard based on the 3GPP standard.

Hereinafter, in order to describe a technical feature of the presentspecification, a technical feature applicable to the presentspecification will be described.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a transmitting apparatus and/or receivingapparatus of the present specification.

In the example of FIG. 1, various technical features described below maybe performed. FIG. 1 relates to at least one station (STA). For example,STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may also be called invarious terms such as a mobile terminal, a wireless device, a wirelesstransmit/receive unit (WTRU), a user equipment (UE), a mobile station(MS), a mobile subscriber unit, or simply a user. The STAs 110 and 120of the present specification may also be called in various terms such asa network, a base station, a node-B, an access point (AP), a repeater, arouter, a relay, or the like. The STAs 110 and 120 of the presentspecification may also be referred to as various names such as areceiving apparatus, a transmitting apparatus, a receiving STA, atransmitting STA, a receiving device, a transmitting device, or thelike.

For example, the STAs 110 and 120 may serve as an AP or a non-AP. Thatis, the STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may serve as theAP and/or the non-AP.

STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may support variouscommunication standards together in addition to the IEEE 802.11standard. For example, a communication standard (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, 5G NRstandard) or the like based on the 3GPP standard may be supported. Inaddition, the STA of the present specification may be implemented asvarious devices such as a mobile phone, a vehicle, a personal computer,or the like. In addition, the STA of the present specification maysupport communication for various communication services such as voicecalls, video calls, data communication, and self-driving(autonomous-driving), or the like.

The STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may include a mediumaccess control (MAC) conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard and aphysical layer interface for a radio medium.

The STAs 110 and 120 will be described below with reference to asub-figure (a) of FIG. 1.

The first STA 110 may include a processor 111, a memory 112, and atransceiver 113. The illustrated process, memory, and transceiver may beimplemented individually as separate chips, or at least twoblocks/functions may be implemented through a single chip.

The transceiver 113 of the first STA performs a signaltransmission/reception operation. Specifically, an IEEE 802.11 packet(e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be, etc.) may be transmitted/received.

For example, the first STA 110 may perform an operation intended by anAP. For example, the processor 111 of the AP may receive a signalthrough the transceiver 113, process a reception (RX) signal, generate atransmission (TX) signal, and provide control for signal transmission.The memory 112 of the AP may store a signal (e.g., RX signal) receivedthrough the transceiver 113, and may store a signal (e.g., TX signal) tobe transmitted through the transceiver.

For example, the second STA 120 may perform an operation intended by anon-AP STA. For example, a transceiver 123 of a non-AP performs a signaltransmission/reception operation. Specifically, an IEEE 802.11 packet(e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be packet, etc.) may betransmitted/received.

For example, a processor 121 of the non-AP STA may receive a signalthrough the transceiver 123, process an RX signal, generate a TX signal,and provide control for signal transmission. A memory 122 of the non-APSTA may store a signal (e.g., RX signal) received through thetransceiver 123, and may store a signal (e.g., TX signal) to betransmitted through the transceiver.

For example, an operation of a device indicated as an AP in thespecification described below may be performed in the first STA 110 orthe second STA 120. For example, if the first STA 110 is the AP, theoperation of the device indicated as the AP may be controlled by theprocessor 111 of the first STA 110, and a related signal may betransmitted or received through the transceiver 113 controlled by theprocessor 111 of the first STA 110. In addition, control informationrelated to the operation of the AP or a TX/RX signal of the AP may bestored in the memory 112 of the first STA 110. In addition, if thesecond STA 120 is the AP, the operation of the device indicated as theAP may be controlled by the processor 121 of the second STA 120, and arelated signal may be transmitted or received through the transceiver123 controlled by the processor 121 of the second STA 120. In addition,control information related to the operation of the AP or a TX/RX signalof the AP may be stored in the memory 122 of the second STA 120.

For example, in the specification described below, an operation of adevice indicated as a non-AP (or user-STA) may be performed in the firstSTA 110 or the second STA 120. For example, if the second STA 120 is thenon-AP, the operation of the device indicated as the non-AP may becontrolled by the processor 121 of the second STA 120, and a relatedsignal may be transmitted or received through the transceiver 123controlled by the processor 121 of the second STA 120. In addition,control information related to the operation of the non-AP or a TX/RXsignal of the non-AP may be stored in the memory 122 of the second STA120. For example, if the first STA 110 is the non-AP, the operation ofthe device indicated as the non-AP may be controlled by the processor111 of the first STA 110, and a related signal may be transmitted orreceived through the transceiver 113 controlled by the processor 111 ofthe first STA 110. In addition, control information related to theoperation of the non-AP or a TX/RX signal of the non-AP may be stored inthe memory 112 of the first STA 110.

In the specification described below, a device called a(transmitting/receiving) STA, a first STA, a second STA, a STA1, a STA2,an AP, a first AP, a second AP, an AP1, an AP2, a(transmitting/receiving) terminal, a (transmitting/receiving) device, a(transmitting/receiving) apparatus, a network, or the like may imply theSTAs 110 and 120 of FIG. 1. For example, a device indicated as, withouta specific reference numeral, the (transmitting/receiving) STA, thefirst STA, the second STA, the STA1, the STA2, the AP, the first AP, thesecond AP, the AP′, the AP2, the (transmitting/receiving) terminal, the(transmitting/receiving) device, the (transmitting/receiving) apparatus,the network, or the like may imply the STAs 110 and 120 of FIG. 1. Forexample, in the following example, an operation in which various STAstransmit/receive a signal (e.g., a PPDU) may be performed in thetransceivers 113 and 123 of FIG. 1. In addition, in the followingexample, an operation in which various STAs generate a TX/RX signal orperform data processing and computation in advance for the TX/RX signalmay be performed in the processors 111 and 121 of FIG. 1. For example,an example of an operation for generating the TX/RX signal or performingthe data processing and computation in advance may include: 1) anoperation ofdetermining/obtaining/configuring/computing/decoding/encoding bitinformation of a sub-field (SIG, STF, LTF, Data) included in a PPDU; 2)an operation of determining/configuring/obtaining a time resource orfrequency resource (e.g., a subcarrier resource) or the like used forthe sub-field (SIG, STF, LTF, Data) included the PPDU; 3) an operationof determining/configuring/obtaining a specific sequence (e.g., a pilotsequence, an STF/LTF sequence, an extra sequence applied to SIG) or thelike used for the sub-field (SIG, STF, LTF, Data) field included in thePPDU; 4) a power control operation and/or power saving operation appliedfor the STA; and 5) an operation related todetermining/obtaining/configuring/decoding/encoding or the like of anACK signal. In addition, in the following example, a variety ofinformation used by various STAs fordetermining/obtaining/configuring/computing/decoding/decoding a TX/RXsignal (e.g., information related to a field/subfield/controlfield/parameter/power or the like) may be stored in the memories 112 and122 of FIG. 1.

The aforementioned device/STA of the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1 may bemodified as shown in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1. Hereinafter, the STAs110 and 120 of the present specification will be described based on thesub-figure (b) of FIG. 1.

For example, the transceivers 113 and 123 illustrated in the sub-figure(b) of FIG. 1 may perform the same function as the aforementionedtransceiver illustrated in the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1. For example,processing chips 114 and 124 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1may include the processors 111 and 121 and the memories 112 and 122. Theprocessors 111 and 121 and memories 112 and 122 illustrated in thesub-figure (b) of FIG. 1 may perform the same function as theaforementioned processors 111 and 121 and memories 112 and 122illustrated in the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1.

A mobile terminal, a wireless device, a wireless transmit/receive unit(WTRU), a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobilesubscriber unit, a user, a user STA, a network, a base station, aNode-B, an access point (AP), a repeater, a router, a relay, a receivingunit, a transmitting unit, a receiving STA, a transmitting STA, areceiving device, a transmitting device, a receiving apparatus, and/or atransmitting apparatus, which are described below, may imply the STAs110 and 120 illustrated in the sub-figure (a)/(b) of FIG. 1, or mayimply the processing chips 114 and 124 illustrated in the sub-figure (b)of FIG. 1. That is, a technical feature of the present specification maybe performed in the STAs 110 and 120 illustrated in the sub-figure(a)/(b) of FIG. 1, or may be performed only in the processing chips 114and 124 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1. For example, atechnical feature in which the transmitting STA transmits a controlsignal may be understood as a technical feature in which a controlsignal generated in the processors 111 and 121 illustrated in thesub-figure (a)/(b) of FIG. 1 is transmitted through the transceivers 113and 123 illustrated in the sub-figure (a)/(b) of FIG. 1. Alternatively,the technical feature in which the transmitting STA transmits thecontrol signal may be understood as a technical feature in which thecontrol signal to be transferred to the transceivers 113 and 123 isgenerated in the processing chips 114 and 124 illustrated in thesub-figure (b) of FIG. 1.

For example, a technical feature in which the receiving STA receives thecontrol signal may be understood as a technical feature in which thecontrol signal is received by means of the transceivers 113 and 123illustrated in the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1. Alternatively, thetechnical feature in which the receiving STA receives the control signalmay be understood as the technical feature in which the control signalreceived in the transceivers 113 and 123 illustrated in the sub-figure(a) of FIG. 1 is obtained by the processors 111 and 121 illustrated inthe sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the technical feature inwhich the receiving STA receives the control signal may be understood asthe technical feature in which the control signal received in thetransceivers 113 and 123 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1 isobtained by the processing chips 114 and 124 illustrated in thesub-figure (b) of FIG. 1.

Referring to the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1, software codes 115 and 125may be included in the memories 112 and 122. The software codes 115 and126 may include instructions for controlling an operation of theprocessors 111 and 121. The software codes 115 and 125 may be includedas various programming languages.

The processors 111 and 121 or processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1 mayinclude an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), otherchipsets, a logic circuit and/or a data processing device. The processormay be an application processor (AP). For example, the processors 111and 121 or processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1 may include at leastone of a digital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit(CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), and a modulator and demodulator(modem). For example, the processors 111 and 121 or processing chips 114and 124 of FIG. 1 may be SNAPDRAGON™ series of processors made byQualcomm®, EXYNOS™ series of processors made by Samsung®, A series ofprocessors made by Apple®, HELIO™ series of processors made byMediaTek®, ATOM™ series of processors made by Intel® or processorsenhanced from these processors.

In the present specification, an uplink may imply a link forcommunication from a non-AP STA to an SP STA, and an uplinkPPDU/packet/signal or the like may be transmitted through the uplink. Inaddition, in the present specification, a downlink may imply a link forcommunication from the AP STA to the non-AP STA, and a downlinkPPDU/packet/signal or the like may be transmitted through the downlink.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual view illustrating the structure of a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN).

An upper part of FIG. 2 illustrates the structure of an infrastructurebasic service set (BSS) of institute of electrical and electronicengineers (i.e. EE) 802.11.

Referring the upper part of FIG. 2, the wireless LAN system may includeone or more infrastructure BSSs 200 and 205 (hereinafter, referred to asBSS). The BSSs 200 and 205 as a set of an AP and a STA such as an accesspoint (AP) 225 and a station (STA1) 200-1 which are successfullysynchronized to communicate with each other are not concepts indicatinga specific region. The BSS 205 may include one or more STAs 205-1 and205-2 which may be joined to one AP 230.

The BSS may include at least one STA, APs providing a distributionservice, and a distribution system (DS) 210 connecting multiple APs.

The distribution system 210 may implement an extended service set (ESS)240 extended by connecting the multiple BSSs 200 and 205. The ESS 240may be used as a term indicating one network configured by connectingone or more APs 225 or 230 through the distribution system 210. The APincluded in one ESS 240 may have the same service set identification(SSID).

A portal 220 may serve as a bridge which connects the wireless LANnetwork (i.e. EE 802.11) and another network (e.g., 802.X).

In the BSS illustrated in the upper part of FIG. 2, a network betweenthe APs 225 and 230 and a network between the APs 225 and 230 and theSTAs 200-1, 205-1, and 205-2 may be implemented. However, the network isconfigured even between the STAs without the APs 225 and 230 to performcommunication. A network in which the communication is performed byconfiguring the network even between the STAs without the APs 225 and230 is defined as an Ad-Hoc network or an independent basic service set(IBSS).

A lower part of FIG. 2 illustrates a conceptual view illustrating theIBSS.

Referring to the lower part of FIG. 2, the IBSS is a BSS that operatesin an Ad-Hoc mode. Since the IBSS does not include the access point(AP), a centralized management entity that performs a managementfunction at the center does not exist. That is, in the IBSS, STAs 250-1,250-2, 250-3, 255-4, and 255-5 are managed by a distributed manner. Inthe IBSS, all STAs 250-1, 250-2, 250-3, 255-4, and 255-5 may beconstituted by movable STAs and are not permitted to access the DS toconstitute a self-contained network.

FIG. 3 illustrates a general link setup process.

In S310, a STA may perform a network discovery operation. The networkdiscovery operation may include a scanning operation of the STA. Thatis, to access a network, the STA needs to discover a participatingnetwork. The STA needs to identify a compatible network beforeparticipating in a wireless network, and a process of identifying anetwork present in a particular area is referred to as scanning.Scanning methods include active scanning and passive scanning.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network discovery operation including an activescanning process. In active scanning, a STA performing scanningtransmits a probe request frame and waits for a response to the proberequest frame in order to identify which AP is present around whilemoving to channels. A responder transmits a probe response frame as aresponse to the probe request frame to the STA having transmitted theprobe request frame. Here, the responder may be a STA that transmits thelast beacon frame in a BSS of a channel being scanned. In the BSS, sincean AP transmits a beacon frame, the AP is the responder. In an IBSS,since STAs in the IBSS transmit a beacon frame in turns, the responderis not fixed. For example, when the STA transmits a probe request framevia channel 1 and receives a probe response frame via channel 1, the STAmay store BS S-related information included in the received proberesponse frame, may move to the next channel (e.g., channel 2), and mayperform scanning (e.g., transmits a probe request and receives a proberesponse via channel 2) by the same method.

Although not shown in FIG. 3, scanning may be performed by a passivescanning method. In passive scanning, a STA performing scanning may waitfor a beacon frame while moving to channels. A beacon frame is one ofmanagement frames in IEEE 802.11 and is periodically transmitted toindicate the presence of a wireless network and to enable the STAperforming scanning to find the wireless network and to participate inthe wireless network. In a BSS, an AP serves to periodically transmit abeacon frame. In an IBSS, STAs in the IBSS transmit a beacon frame inturns. Upon receiving the beacon frame, the STA performing scanningstores information about a BSS included in the beacon frame and recordsbeacon frame information in each channel while moving to anotherchannel. The STA having received the beacon frame may store BSS-relatedinformation included in the received beacon frame, may move to the nextchannel, and may perform scanning in the next channel by the samemethod.

After discovering the network, the STA may perform an authenticationprocess in S320. The authentication process may be referred to as afirst authentication process to be clearly distinguished from thefollowing security setup operation in S340. The authentication processin S320 may include a process in which the STA transmits anauthentication request frame to the AP and the AP transmits anauthentication response frame to the STA in response. The authenticationframes used for an authentication request/response are managementframes.

The authentication frames may include information about anauthentication algorithm number, an authentication transaction sequencenumber, a status code, a challenge text, a robust security network(RSN), and a finite cyclic group.

The STA may transmit the authentication request frame to the AP. The APmay determine whether to allow the authentication of the STA based onthe information included in the received authentication request frame.The AP may provide the authentication processing result to the STA viathe authentication response frame.

When the STA is successfully authenticated, the STA may perform anassociation process in S330. The association process includes a processin which the STA transmits an association request frame to the AP andthe AP transmits an association response frame to the STA in response.The association request frame may include, for example, informationabout various capabilities, a beacon listen interval, a service setidentifier (SSID), a supported rate, a supported channel, RSN, amobility domain, a supported operating class, a traffic indication map(TIM) broadcast request, and an interworking service capability. Theassociation response frame may include, for example, information aboutvarious capabilities, a status code, an association ID (AID), asupported rate, an enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) parameterset, a received channel power indicator (RCPI), a receivedsignal-to-noise indicator (RSNI), a mobility domain, a timeout interval(association comeback time), an overlapping BSS scanning parameter, aTIM broadcast response, and a QoS map.

In S340, the STA may perform a security setup process. The securitysetup process in S340 may include a process of setting up a private keythrough four-way handshaking, for example, through an extensibleauthentication protocol over LAN (EAPOL) frame.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a PPDU used in an IEEE standard.

As illustrated, various types of PHY protocol data units (PPDUs) areused in IEEE a/g/n/ac standards. Specifically, an LTF and a STF includea training signal, a SIG-A and a SIG-B include control information for areceiving STA, and a data field includes user data corresponding to aPSDU (MAC PDU/aggregated MAC PDU).

FIG. 4 also includes an example of an HE PPDU according to IEEE802.11ax. The HE PPDU according to FIG. 4 is an illustrative PPDU formultiple users. An HE-SIG-B may be included only in a PPDU for multipleusers, and an HE-SIG-B may be omitted in a PPDU for a single user.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the HE-PPDU for multiple users (MUs) mayinclude a legacy-short training field (L-STF), a legacy-long trainingfield (L-LTF), a legacy-signal (L-SIG), a high efficiency-signal A(HE-SIG A), a high efficiency-signal-B (HE-SIG B), a highefficiency-short training field (HE-STF), a high efficiency-longtraining field (HE-LTF), a data field (alternatively, an MAC payload),and a packet extension (PE) field. The respective fields may betransmitted for illustrated time periods (i.e., 4 or 8 μs).

Hereinafter, a resource unit (RU) used for a PPDU is described. An RUmay include a plurality of subcarriers (or tones). An RU may be used totransmit a signal to a plurality of STAs according to OFDMA. Further, anRU may also be defined to transmit a signal to one STA. An RU may beused for an STF, an LTF, a data field, or the like.

FIG. 5 illustrates a layout of resource units (RUs) used in a band of 20MHz.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, resource units (RUs) corresponding todifferent numbers of tones (i.e., subcarriers) may be used to form somefields of an HE-PPDU. For example, resources may be allocated inillustrated RUs for an HE-STF, an HE-LTF, and a data field.

As illustrated in the uppermost part of FIG. 5, a 26-unit (i.e., a unitcorresponding to 26 tones) may be disposed. Six tones may be used for aguard band in the leftmost band of the 20 MHz band, and five tones maybe used for a guard band in the rightmost band of the 20 MHz band.Further, seven DC tones may be inserted in a center band, that is, a DCband, and a 26-unit corresponding to 13 tones on each of the left andright sides of the DC band may be disposed. A 26-unit, a 52-unit, and a106-unit may be allocated to other bands. Each unit may be allocated fora receiving STA, that is, a user.

The layout of the RUs in FIG. 5 may be used not only for a multipleusers (MUs) but also for a single user (SU), in which case one 242-unitmay be used and three DC tones may be inserted as illustrated in thelowermost part of FIG. 5.

Although FIG. 5 proposes RUs having various sizes, that is, a 26-RU, a52-RU, a 106-RU, and a 242-RU, specific sizes of RUs may be extended orincreased. Therefore, the present embodiment is not limited to thespecific size of each RU (i.e., the number of corresponding tones).

FIG. 6 illustrates a layout of RUs used in a band of 40 MHz.

Similarly to FIG. 5 in which RUs having various sizes are used, a 26-RU,a 52-RU, a 106-RU, a 242-RU, a 484-RU, and the like may be used in anexample of FIG. 6. Further, five DC tones may be inserted in a centerfrequency, 12 tones may be used for a guard band in the leftmost band ofthe 40 MHz band, and 11 tones may be used for a guard band in therightmost band of the 40 MHz band.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, when the layout of the RUs is used for asingle user, a 484-RU may be used. The specific number of RUs may bechanged similarly to FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 illustrates a layout of RUs used in a band of 80 MHz.

Similarly to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 in which RUs having various sizes areused, a 26-RU, a 52-RU, a 106-RU, a 242-RU, a 484-RU, a 996-RU, and thelike may be used in an example of FIG. 7. Further, seven DC tones may beinserted in the center frequency, 12 tones may be used for a guard bandin the leftmost band of the 80 MHz band, and 11 tones may be used for aguard band in the rightmost band of the 80 MHz band. In addition, a26-RU corresponding to 13 tones on each of the left and right sides ofthe DC band may be used.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, when the layout of the RUs is used for asingle user, a 996-RU may be used, in which case five DC tones may beinserted.

In the meantime, the fact that the specific number of RUs can be changedis the same as those of FIGS. 5 and 6.

The RU arrangement (i.e., RU location) shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 can beapplied to a new wireless LAN system (e.g. EHT system) as it is.Meanwhile, for the 160 MHz band supported by the new WLAN system, the RUarrangement for 80 MHz (i.e., an example of FIG. 7) may be repeatedtwice, or the RU arrangement for the 40 MHz (i.e., an example of FIG. 6)may be repeated 4 times. In addition, when the EHT PPDU is configuredfor the 320 MHz band, the arrangement of the RU for 80 MHz (i.e., anexample of FIG. 7) may be repeated 4 times or the arrangement of the RUfor 40 MHz (i.e., an example of FIG. 6) may be repeated 8 times.

One RU of the present specification may be allocated for a single STA(e.g., a single non-AP STA). Alternatively, a plurality of RUs may beallocated for one STA (e.g., a non-AP STA).

The RU described in the present specification may be used in uplink (UL)communication and downlink (DL) communication. For example, when UL-MUcommunication which is solicited by a trigger frame is performed, atransmitting STA (e.g., an AP) may allocate a first RU (e.g.,26/52/106/242-RU, etc.) to a first STA through the trigger frame, andmay allocate a second RU (e.g., 26/52/106/242-RU, etc.) to a second STA.Thereafter, the first STA may transmit a first trigger-based PPDU basedon the first RU, and the second STA may transmit a second trigger-basedPPDU based on the second RU. The first/second trigger-based PPDU istransmitted to the AP at the same (or overlapped) time period.

For example, when a DL MU PPDU is configured, the transmitting STA(e.g., AP) may allocate the first RU (e.g., 26/52/106/242-RU. etc.) tothe first STA, and may allocate the second RU (e.g., 26/52/106/242-RU,etc.) to the second STA. That is, the transmitting STA (e.g., AP) maytransmit HE-STF, HE-LTF, and Data fields for the first STA through thefirst RU in one MU PPDU, and may transmit HE-STF, HE-LTF, and Datafields for the second STA through the second RU.

Information related to a layout of the RU may be signaled throughHE-SIG-B.

FIG. 8 illustrates a structure of an HE-SIG-B field.

As illustrated, an HE-SIG-B field 810 includes a common field 820 and auser-specific field 830. The common field 820 may include informationcommonly applied to all users (i.e., user STAs) which receive SIG-B. Theuser-specific field 830 may be called a user-specific control field.When the SIG-B is transferred to a plurality of users, the user-specificfield 830 may be applied only any one of the plurality of users.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the common field 820 and the user-specificfield 830 may be separately encoded.

The common field 820 may include RU allocation information of N*8 bits.For example, the RU allocation information may include informationrelated to a location of an RU. For example, when a 20 MHz channel isused as shown in FIG. 5, the RU allocation information may includeinformation related to a specific frequency band to which a specific RU(26-RU/52-RU/106-RU) is arranged.

An example of a case in which the RU allocation information consists of8 bits is as follows.

TABLE 1 8 bits indices (B7 B6 B5 B4 Number B3 B2 B1 B0) #1 #2 #3 #4 #5#6 #7 #8 #9 of entries 00000000 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 1 00000001 2626 26 26 26 26 26 52 1 00000010 26 26 26 26 26 52 26 26 1 00000011 26 2626 26 26 52 52 1 00000100 26 26 52 26 26 26 26 26 1 00000101 26 26 52 2626 26 52 1 00000110 26 26 52 26 52 26 26 1 00000111 26 26 52 26 52 52 100001000 52 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 1

As shown the example of FIG. 5, up to nine 26-RUs may be allocated tothe 20 MHz channel. When the RU allocation information of the commonfield 820 is set to “00000000” as shown in Table 1, the nine 26-RUs maybe allocated to a corresponding channel (i.e., 20 MHz). In addition,when the RU allocation information of the common field 820 is set to“00000001” as shown in Table 1, seven 26-RUs and one 52-RU are arrangedin a corresponding channel. That is, in the example of FIG. 5, the 52-RUmay be allocated to the rightmost side, and the seven 26-RUs may beallocated to the left thereof.

The example of Table 1 shows only some of RU locations capable ofdisplaying the RU allocation information.

For example, the RU allocation information may include an example ofTable 2 below.

TABLE 2 8 bits indices B7 B6 B5 B4 Number B3 B2 B1 B0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6#7 #8 #9 of entries 01000y₂y₁y₀ 106 26 26 26 26 26 8 01001y₂y₁y₀ 106 2626 26 52 8

“01000y2y1y0” relates to an example in which a 106-RU is allocated tothe leftmost side of the 20 MHz channel, and five 26-RUs are allocatedto the right side thereof. In this case, a plurality of STAs (e.g.,user-STAs) may be allocated to the 106-RU, based on a MU-MIMO scheme.Specifically, up to 8 STAs (e.g., user-STAs) may be allocated to the106-RU, and the number of STAs (e.g., user-STAs) allocated to the 106-RUis determined based on 3-bit information (y2y1y0). For example, when the3-bit information (y2y1y0) is set to N, the number of STAs (e.g.,user-STAs) allocated to the 106-RU based on the MU-MIMO scheme may beN+1.

In general, a plurality of STAs (e.g., user STAs) different from eachother may be allocated to a plurality of RUs. However, the plurality ofSTAs (e.g., user STAs) may be allocated to one or more RUs having atleast a specific size (e.g., 106 subcarriers), based on the MU-MIMOscheme.

As shown in FIG. 8, the user-specific field 830 may include a pluralityof user fields. As described above, the number of STAs (e.g., user STAs)allocated to a specific channel may be determined based on the RUallocation information of the common field 820. For example, when the RUallocation information of the common field 820 is “00000000”, one userSTA may be allocated to each of nine 26-RUs (e.g., nine user STAs may beallocated). That is, up to 9 user STAs may be allocated to a specificchannel through an OFDMA scheme. In other words, up to 9 user STAs maybe allocated to a specific channel through a non-MU-MIMO scheme.

For example, when RU allocation is set to “01000y2y1y0”, a plurality ofSTAs may be allocated to the 106-RU arranged at the leftmost sidethrough the MU-MIMO scheme, and five user STAs may be allocated to five26-RUs arranged to the right side thereof through the non-MU MIMOscheme. This case is specified through an example of FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example in which a plurality of user STAs areallocated to the same RU through a MU-MIMO scheme.

For example, when RU allocation is set to “01000010” as shown in FIG. 9,a 106-RU may be allocated to the leftmost side of a specific channel,and five 26-RUs may be allocated to the right side thereof. In addition,three user STAs may be allocated to the 106-RU through the MU-MIMOscheme. As a result, since eight user STAs are allocated, theuser-specific field 830 of HE-SIG-B may include eight user fields.

The eight user fields may be expressed in the order shown in FIG. 9. Inaddition, as shown in FIG. 8, two user fields may be implemented withone user block field.

The user fields shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 may be configured based ontwo formats. That is, a user field related to a MU-MIMO scheme may beconfigured in a first format, and a user field related to a non-MIMOscheme may be configured in a second format. Referring to the example ofFIG. 9, a user field 1 to a user field 3 may be based on the firstformat, and a user field 4 to a user field 8 may be based on the secondformat. The first format or the second format may include bitinformation of the same length (e.g., 21 bits).

Each user field may have the same size (e.g., 21 bits). For example, theuser field of the first format (the first of the MU-MIMO scheme) may beconfigured as follows.

For example, a first bit (i.e., B0-B10) in the user field (i.e., 21bits) may include identification information (e.g., STA-ID, partial AID,etc.) of a user STA to which a corresponding user field is allocated. Inaddition, a second bit (i.e., B11-B14) in the user field (i.e., 21 bits)may include information related to a spatial configuration.Specifically, an example of the second bit (i.e., B11-B14) may be asshown in Table 3 and Table 4 below.

TABLE 3 N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS)Total Number N_(user) B3 . . . B0 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]N_(STS) of entries 2 0000-0011 1-4 1 2-5 10 0100-0110 2-4 2 4-60111-1000 3-4 3 6-7 1001 4 4 8 3 0000-0011 1-4 1 1 3-6 13 0100-0110 2-42 1 5-7 0111-1000 3-4 3 1 7-8 1001-1011 2-4 2 1 6-8 1100 3 3 2 8 40000-0011 1-4 1 1 1 4-7 11 0100-0110 7-4 2 1 1 6-8 0111 3 3 1 1 81000-1001 2-3 2 2 1 7-8 1010 2 2 2 2 8

TABLE 4 N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS)Total Number N_(user) B3 . . . B0 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]N_(STS) of entries 5 0000-0011 1-4 1 1 1 1 5-8 7 0100-0101 2-3 2 1 1 17-8 0110 2 2 2 1 1 8 6 0000-0010 1-3 1 1 1 1 1 6-8 4 0011 2 2 1 1 1 1 87 0000-0001 1-2 1 1 1 1 1 1 7-8 1 8 0000 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 1

As shown in Table 3 and/or Table 4, the second bit (e.g., B11-B14) mayinclude information related to the number of spatial streams allocatedto the plurality of user STAs which are allocated based on the MU-MIMOscheme. For example, when three user STAs are allocated to the 106-RUbased on the MU-MIMO scheme as shown in FIG. 9, N user is set to “3”.Therefore, values of N_STS[1], N_STS [2], and N_STS [3] may bedetermined as shown in Table 3. For example, when a value of the secondbit (B11-B14) is “0011”, it may be set to N_STS[1]=4, N_STS[2]=1,N_STS[3]=1. That is, in the example of FIG. 9, four spatial streams maybe allocated to the user field 1, one spatial stream may be allocated tothe user field 1, and one spatial stream may be allocated to the userfield 3.

As shown in the example of Table 3 and/or Table 4, information (i.e.,the second bit, B11-B14) related to the number of spatial streams forthe user STA may consist of 4 bits. In addition, the information (i.e.,the second bit, B11-B14) on the number of spatial streams for the userSTA may support up to eight spatial streams. In addition, theinformation (i.e., the second bit, B11-B14) on the number of spatialstreams for the user STA may support up to four spatial streams for oneuser STA.

In addition, a third bit (i.e., B15-18) in the user field (i.e., 21bits) may include modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information. TheMCS information may be applied to a data field in a PPDU includingcorresponding SIG-B.

An MCS, MCS information, an MCS index, an MCS field, or the like used inthe present specification may be indicated by an index value. Forexample, the MCS information may be indicated by an index 0 to an index11. The MCS information may include information related to aconstellation modulation type (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM,256-QAM, 1024-QAM, etc.) and information related to a coding rate (e.g.,1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6e, etc.). Information related to a channel coding type(e.g., LCC or LDPC) may be excluded in the MCS information.

In addition, a fourth bit (i.e., B19) in the user field (i.e., 21 bits)may be a reserved field.

In addition, a fifth bit (i.e., B20) in the user field (i.e., 21 bits)may include information related to a coding type (e.g., BCC or LDPC).That is, the fifth bit (i.e., B20) may include information related to atype (e.g., BCC or LDPC) of channel coding applied to the data field inthe PPDU including the corresponding SIG-B.

The aforementioned example relates to the user field of the first format(the format of the MU-MIMO scheme). An example of the user field of thesecond format (the format of the non-MU-MIMO scheme) is as follows.

A first bit (e.g., B0-B10) in the user field of the second format mayinclude identification information of a user STA. In addition, a secondbit (e.g., B11-B13) in the user field of the second format may includeinformation related to the number of spatial streams applied to acorresponding RU. In addition, a third bit (e.g., B14) in the user fieldof the second format may include information related to whether abeamforming steering matrix is applied. A fourth bit (e.g., B15-B18) inthe user field of the second format may include modulation and codingscheme (MCS) information. In addition, a fifth bit (e.g., B19) in theuser field of the second format may include information related towhether dual carrier modulation (DCM) is applied. In addition, a sixthbit (i.e., B20) in the user field of the second format may includeinformation related to a coding type (e.g., BCC or LDPC).

FIG. 10 illustrates an operation based on UL-MU. As illustrated, atransmitting STA (e.g., an AP) may perform channel access throughcontending (e.g., a backoff operation), and may transmit a trigger frame1030. That is, the transmitting STA may transmit a PPDU including thetrigger frame 1030. Upon receiving the PPDU including the trigger frame,a trigger-based (TB) PPDU is transmitted after a delay corresponding toSIFS.

TB PPDUs 1041 and 1042 may be transmitted at the same time period, andmay be transmitted from a plurality of STAs (e.g., user STAs) havingAIDs indicated in the trigger frame 1030. An ACK frame 1050 for the TBPPDU may be implemented in various forms.

A specific feature of the trigger frame is described with reference toFIG. 11 to FIG. 13. Even if UL-MU communication is used, an orthogonalfrequency division multiple access (OFDMA) scheme or a MU MIMO schememay be used, and the OFDMA and MU-MIMO schemes may be simultaneouslyused.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a trigger frame. The trigger frame ofFIG. 11 allocates a resource for uplink multiple-user (MU) transmission,and may be transmitted, for example, from an AP. The trigger frame maybe configured of a MAC frame, and may be included in a PPDU.

Each field shown in FIG. 11 may be partially omitted, and another fieldmay be added. In addition, a length of each field may be changed to bedifferent from that shown in the figure.

A frame control field 1110 of FIG. 11 may include information related toa MAC protocol version and extra additional control information. Aduration field 1120 may include time information for NAV configurationor information related to an identifier (e.g., AID) of a STA.

In addition, an RA field 1130 may include address information of areceiving STA of a corresponding trigger frame, and may be optionallyomitted. A TA field 1140 may include address information of a STA (e.g.,an AP) which transmits the corresponding trigger frame. A commoninformation field 1150 includes common control information applied tothe receiving STA which receives the corresponding trigger frame. Forexample, a field indicating a length of an L-SIG field of an uplink PPDUtransmitted in response to the corresponding trigger frame orinformation for controlling content of a SIG-A field (i.e., HE-SIG-Afield) of the uplink PPDU transmitted in response to the correspondingtrigger frame may be included. In addition, as common controlinformation, information related to a length of a CP of the uplink PPDUtransmitted in response to the corresponding trigger frame orinformation related to a length of an LTF field may be included.

In addition, per user information fields 1160 #1 to 1160 #Ncorresponding to the number of receiving STAs which receive the triggerframe of FIG. 11 are preferably included. The per user information fieldmay also be called an “allocation field”.

In addition, the trigger frame of FIG. 11 may include a padding field1170 and a frame check sequence field 1180.

Each of the per user information fields 1160 #1 to 1160 #N shown in FIG.11 may include a plurality of subfields.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a common information field of atrigger frame. A subfield of FIG. 12 may be partially omitted, and anextra subfield may be added. In addition, a length of each subfieldillustrated may be changed.

A length field 1210 illustrated has the same value as a length field ofan L-SIG field of an uplink PPDU transmitted in response to acorresponding trigger frame, and a length field of the L-SIG field ofthe uplink PPDU indicates a length of the uplink PPDU. As a result, thelength field 1210 of the trigger frame may be used to indicate thelength of the corresponding uplink PPDU.

In addition, a cascade identifier field 1220 indicates whether a cascadeoperation is performed. The cascade operation implies that downlink MUtransmission and uplink MU transmission are performed together in thesame TXOP. That is, it implies that downlink MU transmission isperformed and thereafter uplink MU transmission is performed after apre-set time (e.g., SIFS). During the cascade operation, only onetransmitting device (e.g., AP) may perform downlink communication, and aplurality of transmitting devices (e.g., non-APs) may perform uplinkcommunication.

A CS request field 1230 indicates whether a wireless medium state or aNAV or the like is necessarily considered in a situation where areceiving device which has received a corresponding trigger frametransmits a corresponding uplink PPDU.

An HE-SIG-A information field 1240 may include information forcontrolling content of a SIG-A field (i.e., HE-SIG-A field) of theuplink PPDU in response to the corresponding trigger frame.

A CP and LTF type field 1250 may include information related to a CPlength and LTF length of the uplink PPDU transmitted in response to thecorresponding trigger frame. A trigger type field 1260 may indicate apurpose of using the corresponding trigger frame, for example, typicaltriggering, triggering for beamforming, a request for block ACK/NACK, orthe like.

It may be assumed that the trigger type field 1260 of the trigger framein the present specification indicates a trigger frame of a basic typefor typical triggering. For example, the trigger frame of the basic typemay be referred to as a basic trigger frame.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a subfield included in a per userinformation field. A user information field 1300 of FIG. 13 may beunderstood as any one of the per user information fields 1160 #1 to 1160#N mentioned above with reference to FIG. 11. A subfield included in theuser information field 1300 of FIG. 13 may be partially omitted, and anextra subfield may be added. In addition, a length of each subfieldillustrated may be changed.

A user identifier field 1310 of FIG. 13 indicates an identifier of a STA(i.e., receiving STA) corresponding to per user information. An exampleof the identifier may be the entirety or part of an associationidentifier (AID) value of the receiving STA.

In addition, an RU allocation field 1320 may be included. That is, whenthe receiving STA identified through the user identifier field 1310transmits a TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame, the TB PPDU istransmitted through an RU indicated by the RU allocation field 1320. Inthis case, the RU indicated by the RU allocation field 1320 may be an RUshown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 7.

The subfield of FIG. 13 may include a coding type field 1330. The codingtype field 1330 may indicate a coding type of the TB PPDU. For example,when BCC coding is applied to the TB PPDU, the coding type field 1330may be set to ‘1’, and when LDPC coding is applied, the coding typefield 1330 may be set to ‘0’.

In addition, the subfield of FIG. 13 may include an MCS field 1340. TheMCS field 1340 may indicate an MCS scheme applied to the TB PPDU. Forexample, when BCC coding is applied to the TB PPDU, the coding typefield 1330 may be set to ‘1’, and when LDPC coding is applied, thecoding type field 1330 may be set to ‘0’.

Hereinafter, a UL OFDMA-based random access (UORA) scheme will bedescribed.

FIG. 14 describes a technical feature of the UORA scheme.

A transmitting STA (e.g., an AP) may allocate six RU resources through atrigger frame as shown in FIG. 14. Specifically, the AP may allocate a1st RU resource (AID 0, RU 1), a 2nd RU resource (AID 0, RU 2), a 3rd RUresource (AID 0, RU 3), a 4th RU resource (AID 2045, RU 4), a 5th RUresource (AID 2045, RU 5), and a 6th RU resource (AID 3, RU 6).Information related to the AID 0, AID 3, or AID 2045 may be included,for example, in the user identifier field 1310 of FIG. 13. Informationrelated to the RU 1 to RU 6 may be included, for example, in the RUallocation field 1320 of FIG. 13. AID=0 may imply a UORA resource for anassociated STA, and AID=2045 may imply a UORA resource for anun-associated STA. Accordingly, the 1st to 3rd RU resources of FIG. 14may be used as a UORA resource for the associated STA, the 4th and 5thRU resources of FIG. 14 may be used as a UORA resource for theun-associated STA, and the 6th RU resource of FIG. 14 may be used as atypical resource for UL MU.

In the example of FIG. 14, an OFDMA random access backoff (OBO) of aSTA1 is decreased to 0, and the STA1 randomly selects the 2nd RUresource (AID 0, RU 2). In addition, since an OBO counter of a STA2/3 isgreater than 0, an uplink resource is not allocated to the STA2/3. Inaddition, regarding a STA4 in FIG. 14, since an AID (e.g., AID=3) of theSTA4 is included in a trigger frame, a resource of the RU 6 is allocatedwithout backoff.

Specifically, since the STA1 of FIG. 14 is an associated STA, the totalnumber of eligible RA RUs for the STA1 is 3 (RU 1, RU 2, and RU 3), andthus the STA1 decreases an OBO counter by 3 so that the OBO counterbecomes 0. In addition, since the STA2 of FIG. 14 is an associated STA,the total number of eligible RA RUs for the STA2 is 3 (RU 1, RU 2, andRU 3), and thus the STA2 decreases the OBO counter by 3 but the OBOcounter is greater than 0. In addition, since the STA3 of FIG. 14 is anun-associated STA, the total number of eligible RA RUs for the STA3 is 2(RU 4, RU 5), and thus the STA3 decreases the OBO counter by 2 but theOBO counter is greater than 0.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a channel used/supported/definedwithin a 2.4 GHz band.

The 2.4 GHz band may be called in other terms such as a first band. Inaddition, the 2.4 GHz band may imply a frequency domain in whichchannels of which a center frequency is close to 2.4 GHz (e.g., channelsof which a center frequency is located within 2.4 to 2.5 GHz) areused/supported/defined.

A plurality of 20 MHz channels may be included in the 2.4 GHz band. 20MHz within the 2.4 GHz may have a plurality of channel indices (e.g., anindex 1 to an index 14). For example, a center frequency of a 20 MHzchannel to which a channel index 1 is allocated may be 2.412 GHz, acenter frequency of a 20 MHz channel to which a channel index 2 isallocated may be 2.417 GHz, and a center frequency of a 20 MHz channelto which a channel index N is allocated may be (2.407+0.005*N) GHz. Thechannel index may be called in various terms such as a channel number orthe like. Specific numerical values of the channel index and centerfrequency may be changed.

FIG. 15 exemplifies 4 channels within a 2.4 GHz band. Each of 1st to 4thfrequency domains 1510 to 1540 shown herein may include one channel. Forexample, the 1st frequency domain 1510 may include a channel 1 (a 20 MHzchannel having an index 1). In this case, a center frequency of thechannel 1 may be set to 2412 MHz. The 2nd frequency domain 1520 mayinclude a channel 6. In this case, a center frequency of the channel 6may be set to 2437 MHz. The 3rd frequency domain 1530 may include achannel 11. In this case, a center frequency of the channel 11 may beset to 2462 MHz. The 4th frequency domain 1540 may include a channel 14.In this case, a center frequency of the channel 14 may be set to 2484MHz.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a channel used/supported/definedwithin a 5 GHz band.

The 5 GHz band may be called in other terms such as a second band or thelike. The 5 GHz band may imply a frequency domain in which channels ofwhich a center frequency is greater than or equal to 5 GHz and less than6 GHz (or less than 5.9 GHz) are used/supported/defined. Alternatively,the 5 GHz band may include a plurality of channels between 4.5 GHz and5.5 GHz. A specific numerical value shown in FIG. 16 may be changed.

A plurality of channels within the 5 GHz band include an unlicensednational information infrastructure (UNII)-1, a UNII-2, a UNII-3, and anISM. The INII-1 may be called UNII Low. The UNII-2 may include afrequency domain called UNII Mid and UNII-2Extended. The UNII-3 may becalled UNII-Upper.

A plurality of channels may be configured within the 5 GHz band, and abandwidth of each channel may be variously set to, for example, 20 MHz,40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or the like. For example, 5170 MHz to 5330 MHzfrequency domains/ranges within the UNII-1 and UNII-2 may be dividedinto eight 20 MHz channels. The 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequencydomains/ranges may be divided into four channels through a 40 MHzfrequency domain. The 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency domains/ranges maybe divided into two channels through an 80 MHz frequency domain.Alternatively, the 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency domains/ranges may bedivided into one channel through a 160 MHz frequency domain.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a channel used/supported/definedwithin a 6 GHz band.

The 6 GHz band may be called in other terms such as a third band or thelike. The 6 GHz band may imply a frequency domain in which channels ofwhich a center frequency is greater than or equal to 5.9 GHz areused/supported/defined. A specific numerical value shown in FIG. 17 maybe changed.

For example, the 20 MHz channel of FIG. 17 may be defined starting from5.940 GHz. Specifically, among 20 MHz channels of FIG. 17, the leftmostchannel may have an index 1 (or a channel index, a channel number,etc.), and 5.945 GHz may be assigned as a center frequency. That is, acenter frequency of a channel of an index N may be determined as(5.940+0.005*N) GHz.

Accordingly, an index (or channel number) of the 2 MHz channel of FIG.17 may be 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53, 57, 61,65, 69, 73, 77, 81, 85, 89, 93, 97, 101, 105, 109, 113, 117, 121, 125,129, 133, 137, 141, 145, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165, 169, 173, 177, 181,185, 189, 193, 197, 201, 205, 209, 213, 217, 221, 225, 229, 233. Inaddition, according to the aforementioned (5.940+0.005*N) GHz rule, anindex of the 40 MHz channel of FIG. 17 may be 3, 11, 19, 27, 35, 43, 51,59, 67, 75, 83, 91, 99, 107, 115, 123, 131, 139, 147, 155, 163, 171,179, 187, 195, 203, 211, 219, 227.

Although 20, 40, 80, and 160 MHz channels are illustrated in the exampleof FIG. 17, a 240 MHz channel or a 320 MHz channel may be additionallyadded.

Hereinafter, a PPDU transmitted/received in a STA of the presentspecification will be described.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of a PPDU used in the presentspecification.

The PPDU 1800 depicted in FIG. 18 may be referred to as various termssuch as an EHT PPDU, a TX PPDU, an RX PPDU, a first type or N-th typePPDU, or the like. In addition, the EHT PPDU may be used in an EHTsystem and/or a new WLAN system enhanced from the EHT system.

The subfields 1801 to 1810 depicted in FIG. 18 may be referred to asvarious terms. For example, a SIG A field 1805 may be referred to anEHT-SIG-A field, a SIG B field 1806 may be referred to an EHT-SIG-B, anSTF field 1807 may be referred to an EHT-STF field, and an LTF field1808 may be referred to an EHT-LTF.

The subcarrier spacing of the L-LTF, L-STF, L-SIG, and RL-SIG fields1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804 of FIG. 18 can be set to 312.5 kHz, and thesubcarrier spacing of the STF, LTF, and Data fields 1807, 1808, and 1809of FIG. 18 can be set to 78.125 kHz. That is, the subcarrier index ofthe L-LTF, L-STF, L-SIG, and RL-SIG fields 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804can be expressed in unit of 312.5 kHz, and the subcarrier index of theSTF, LTF, and Data fields 1807, 1808, and 1809 can be expressed in unitof 78.125 kHz.

The SIG A and/or SIG B fields of FIG. 18 may include additional fields(e.g., a SIG C field or one control symbol, etc.). The subcarrierspacing of all or part of the SIG A and SIG B fields may be set to 312.5kHz, and the subcarrier spacing of all or part of newly-defined SIGfield(s) may be set to 312.5 kHz. Meanwhile, the subcarrier spacing fora part of the newly-defined SIG field(s) may be set to a pre-definedvalue (e.g., 312.5 kHz or 78.125 kHz).

In the PPDU of FIG. 18, the L-LTF and the L-STF may be the same asconventional L-LTF and L-STF fields.

The L-SIG field of FIG. 18 may include, for example, bit information of24 bits. For example, the 24-bit information may include a rate field of4 bits, a reserved bit of 1 bit, a length field of 12 bits, a parity bitof 1 bit, and a tail bit of 6 bits. For example, the length field of 12bits may include information related to the number of octets of acorresponding Physical Service Data Unit (PSDU). For example, the lengthfield of 12 bits may be determined based on a type of the PPDU. Forexample, when the PPDU is a non-HT, HT, VHT PPDU or an EHT PPDU, a valueof the length field may be determined as a multiple of 3. For example,when the PPDU is an HE PPDU, the value of the length field may bedetermined as “a multiple of 3”+1 or “a multiple of 3”+2. In otherwords, for the non-HT, HT, VHT PPDI or the EHT PPDU, the value of thelength field may be determined as a multiple of 3, and for the HE PPDU,the value of the length field may be determined as “a multiple of 3”+1or “a multiple of 3”+2.

For example, the transmitting STA may apply BCC encoding based on a 1/2coding rate to the 24-bit information of the L-SIG field. Thereafter,the transmitting STA may obtain a BCC coding bit of 48 bits. BPSKmodulation may be applied to the 48-bit coding bit, thereby generating48 BPSK symbols. The transmitting STA may map the 48 BPSK symbols topositions except for a pilot subcarrier {subcarrier index −21, −7, +7,+21} and a DC subcarrier {subcarrier index 0}. As a result, the 48 BPSKsymbols may be mapped to subcarrier indices −26 to −22, −20 to −8, −6 to−1, +1 to +6, +8 to +20, and +22 to +26. The transmitting STA mayadditionally map a signal of {−1, −1, −1, 1} to a subcarrier index {−28,−27, +27, +28}. The aforementioned signal may be used for channelestimation on a frequency domain corresponding to {−28, −27, +27, +28}.

The transmitting STA may generate an RL-SIG which is identical to theL-SIG. BPSK modulation may be applied to the RL-SIG. The receiving STAmay figure out that the RX PPDU is the HE PPDU or the EHT PPDU, based onthe presence of the RL-SIG.

After RL-SIG of FIG. 18, for example, an EHT-SIG-A or one control symbolmay be inserted. A symbol located after the RL-SIG (i.e., the EHT-SIG-Aor one control symbol in the present specification) may be referred asvarious names, such as a U-SIG (Universal SIG) field.

A symbol consecutive to the RL-SIG (e.g., U-SIG) may include informationof N bits, and may include information for identifying the type of theEHT PPDU. For example, the U-SIG may be configured based on two symbols(e.g., two consecutive OFDM symbols). Each symbol (e.g., OFDM symbol)for U-SIG may have a duration of 4 us. Each symbol of the U-SIG may beused to transmit 26-bit information. For example, each symbol of theU-SIG may be transmitted/received based on 52 data tones and 4 pilottones.

Through the U-SIG (or U-SIG field), for example, A-bit information(e.g., 52 un-coded bits) may be transmitted. A first symbol of the U-SIGmay transmit first X-bit information (e.g., 26 un-coded bits) of theA-bit information, and a second symbol of the U-SIG may transmit theremaining Y-bit information (e.g. 26 un-coded bits) of the A-bitinformation. For example, the transmitting STA may obtain 26 un-codedbits included in each U-SIG symbol. The transmitting STA may performconvolutional encoding (i.e., BCC encoding) based on a rate of R=1/2 togenerate 52-coded bits, and may perform interleaving on the 52-codedbits. The transmitting STA may perform BPSK modulation on theinterleaved 52-coded bits to generate 52 BPSK symbols to be allocated toeach U-SIG symbol. One U-SIG symbol may be transmitted based on 65 tones(subcarriers) from a subcarrier index −28 to a subcarrier index +28,except for a DC index 0. The 52 BPSK symbols generated by thetransmitting STA may be transmitted based on the remaining tones(subcarriers) except for pilot tones, i.e., tones −21, −7, +7, +21.

For example, the A-bit information (e.g., 52 un-coded bits) generated bythe U-SIG may include a CRC field (e.g., a field having a length of 4bits) and a tail field (e.g., a field having a length of 6 bits). TheCRC field and the tail field may be transmitted through the secondsymbol of the U-SIG. The CRC field may be generated based on 26 bitsallocated to the first symbol of the U-SIG and the remaining 16 bitsexcept for the CRC/tail fields in the second symbol, and may begenerated based on the conventional CRC calculation algorithm. Inaddition, the tail field may be used to terminate trellis of aconvolutional decoder, and may be set to, for example, “000000”.

The A-bit information (e.g., 52 un-coded bits) transmitted by the U-SIG(or U-SIG field) may be divided into version-independent bits andversion-dependent bits. For example, the version-independent bits mayhave a fixed or variable size. For example, the version-independent bitsmay be allocated only to the first symbol of the U-SIG, or theversion-independent bits may be allocated to both of the first andsecond symbols of the U-SIG. For example, the version-independent bitsand the version-dependent bits may be called in various terms such as afirst control bit, a second control bit, or the like.

For example, the version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include a PHYversion identifier of 3 bits. For example, the PHY version identifier of3 bits may include information related to a PHY version of a TX/RX PPDU.For example, a first value of the PHY version identifier of 3 bits mayindicate that the TX/RX PPDU is an EHT PPDU. In other words, when thetransmitting STA transmits the EHT PPDU, the PHY version identifier of 3bits may be set to a first value. In other words, the receiving STA maydetermine that the RX PPDU is the EHT PPDU, based on the PHY versionidentifier having the first value.

For example, the version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include aUL/DL flag field of 1 bit. A first value of the UL/DL flag field of 1bit relates to UL communication, and a second value of the UL/DL flagfield relates to DL communication.

For example, the version-independent bits of the U-SIG may includeinformation related to a TXOP length and information related to a BSScolor ID.

For example, when the EHT PPDU is classified into various types (e.g.,EHT PPDU supporting SU, EHT PPDU supporting MU, EHT PPDU related toTrigger Frame, EHT PPDU related to Extended Range transmission, etc.),information related to the type of the EHT PPDU may be included inversion-independent bits or version-dependent bits of the U-SIG.

For example, the U-SIG field includes 1) a bandwidth field includinginformation related to a bandwidth, 2) a field including informationrelated an MCS scheme applied to the SIG-B, 3) a dual subcarriermodulation in the SIG-B (i.e., an indication field including informationrelated to whether the dual subcarrier modulation) is applied, 4) afield including information related to the number of symbols used forthe SIG-B, 5) a field including information on whether the SIG-B isgenerated over the entire band, 6) a field including information relatedto a type of the LTF/STF, and/or 7) information related to a fieldindicating a length of the LTF and the CP.

The SIG-B of FIG. 18 may include the technical features of HE-SIG-Bshown in the example of FIGS. 8 to 9 as it is.

An STF of FIG. 18 may be used to improve automatic gain controlestimation in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) environment or anOFDMA environment. An LTF of FIG. 18 may be used to estimate a channelin the MIMO environment or the OFDMA environment.

The EHT-STF of FIG. 18 may be set in various types. For example, a firsttype of STF (e.g., lx STF) may be generated based on a first type STFsequence in which a non-zero coefficient is arranged with an interval of16 subcarriers. An STF signal generated based on the first type STFsequence may have a period of 0.8 μs, and a periodicity signal of 0.8 μsmay be repeated 5 times to become a first type STF having a length of 4μs. For example, a second type of STF (e.g., 2×STF) may be generatedbased on a second type STF sequence in which a non-zero coefficient isarranged with an interval of 8 subcarriers. An STF signal generatedbased on the second type STF sequence may have a period of 1.6 μs, and aperiodicity signal of 1.6 μs may be repeated 5 times to become a secondtype STF having a length of 8 μs. For example, a third type of STF(e.g., 4×STF) may be generated based on a third type STF sequence inwhich a non-zero coefficient is arranged with an interval of 4subcarriers. An STF signal generated based on the third type STFsequence may have a period of 3.2 μs, and a periodicity signal of 3.2 μsmay be repeated 5 times to become a second type STF having a length of16 μs. Only some of the first to third type EHT-STF sequences may beused. In addition, the EHT-LTF field may also have first, second, andthird types (i.e., 1×, 2×, 4×LTF). For example, the first/second/thirdtype LTF field may be generated based on an LTF sequence in which anon-zero coefficient is arranged with an interval of 4/2/1 subcarriers.The first/second/third type LTF may have a time length of 3.2/6.4/12.8μs. In addition, Guard Intervals (GIs) with various lengths (e.g.,0.8/1/6/3.2 μs) may be applied to the first/second/third type LTF.

Information related to the type of STF and/or LTF (including informationrelated to GI applied to the LTF) may be included in the SIG A fieldand/or the SIG B field of FIG. 18.

The PPDU of FIG. 18 may support various bandwidths. For example, thePPDU of FIG. 18 may have a bandwidth of 20/40/80/160/240/320 MHz. Forexample, at least one field (e.g., STF, LTF, data) of FIG. 18 may beconfigured based on RUs illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 7, and the like. Forexample, when there is one receiving STA of the PPDU of FIG. 18, allfields of the PPDU of FIG. 18 may occupy the entire bandwidth. Forexample, when there are multiple receiving STAs of the PPDU of FIG. 18(i.e., when MU PPDU is used), some fields (e.g., STF, LTF, data) of FIG.18 may be configured based on the RUs shown in FIGS. 5 to 7. Forexample, the STF, LTF, and data fields for the first receiving STA ofthe PPDU may be transmitted/received through a first RU, and the STF,LTF, and data fields for the second receiving STA of the PPDU may betransmitted/received through a second RU. In this case, thelocations/positions of the first and second RUs may be determined basedon FIGS. 5 to 7, and the like.

The PPDU of FIG. 18 may be determined (or identified) as an EHT PPDUbased on the following method.

A receiving STA may determine a type of an RX PPDU as the EHT PPDU,based on the following aspect. For example, the RX PPDU may bedetermined as the EHT PPDU: 1) when a first symbol after an L-LTF signalof the RX PPDU is a BPSK symbol; 2) when RL-SIG in which the L-SIG ofthe RX PPDU is repeated is detected; and 3) when a result of applying“module 3” to a value of a length field of the L-SIG of the RX PPDU isdetected as “0”. When the RX PPDU is determined as the EHT PPDU, thereceiving STA may detect a type of the EHT PPDU (e.g., anSU/MU/Trigger-based/Extended Range type), based on bit informationincluded in a symbol after the RL-SIG of FIG. 18. In other words, thereceiving STA may determine the RX PPDU as the EHT PPDU, based on: 1) afirst symbol after an L-LTF signal, which is a BPSK symbol; 2) RL-SIGcontiguous to the L-SIG field and identical to L-SIG; 3) L-SIG includinga length field in which a result of applying “modulo 3” is set to “0”;and 4) a 3-bit PHY version identifier of the aforementioned U-SIG (e.g.,a PHY version identifier having a first value).

For example, the receiving STA may determine the type of the RX PPDU asthe EHT PPDU, based on the following aspect. For example, the RX PPDUmay be determined as the HE PPDU: 1) when a first symbol after an L-LTFsignal is a BPSK symbol; 2) when RL-SIG in which the L-SIG is repeatedis detected; and 3) when a result of applying “module 3” to a value of alength field of the L-SIG is detected as “1” or “2”.

For example, the receiving STA may determine the type of the RX PPDU asa non-HT, HT, and VHT PPDU, based on the following aspect. For example,the RX PPDU may be determined as the non-HT, HT, and VHT PPDU: 1) when afirst symbol after an L-LTF signal is a BPSK symbol; and 2) when RL-SIGin which L-SIG is repeated is not detected. In addition, even if thereceiving STA detects that the RL-SIG is repeated, when a result ofapplying “modulo 3” to the length value of the L-SIG is detected as “0”,the RX PPDU may be determined as the non-HT, HT, and VHT PPDU.

In the following example, a signal represented as a (TX/RX/UL/DL)signal, a (TX/RX/UL/DL) frame, a (TX/RX/UL/DL) packet, a (TX/RX/UL/DL)data unit, (TX/RX/UL/DL) data, or the like may be a signaltransmitted/received based on the PPDU of FIG. 18. The PPDU of FIG. 18may be used to transmit/receive frames of various types. For example,the PPDU of FIG. 18 may be used for a control frame. An example of thecontrol frame may include a request to send (RTS), a clear to send(CTS), a power save-poll (PS-poll), BlockACKReq, BlockAck, a null datapacket (NDP) announcement, and a trigger frame. For example, the PPDU ofFIG. 18 may be used for a management frame. An example of the managementframe may include a beacon frame, a (re-)association request frame, a(re-)association response frame, a probe request frame, and a proberesponse frame. For example, the PPDU of FIG. 18 may be used for a dataframe. For example, the PPDU of FIG. 18 may be used to simultaneouslytransmit at least two or more of the control frame, the managementframe, and the data frame.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of a modified transmission device and/orreceiving device of the present specification.

Each device/STA of the sub-figure (a)/(b) of FIG. 1 may be modified asshown in FIG. 19. A transceiver 630 of FIG. 19 may be identical to thetransceivers 113 and 123 of FIG. 1. The transceiver 630 of FIG. 19 mayinclude a receiver and a transmitter.

A processor 610 of FIG. 19 may be identical to the processors 111 and121 of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the processor 610 of FIG. 19 may beidentical to the processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1.

A memory 620 of FIG. 19 may be identical to the memories 112 and 122 ofFIG. 1. Alternatively, the memory 620 of FIG. 19 may be a separateexternal memory different from the memories 112 and 122 of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 19, a power management module 611 manages power forthe processor 610 and/or the transceiver 630. A battery 612 suppliespower to the power management module 611. A display 613 outputs a resultprocessed by the processor 610. A keypad 614 receives inputs to be usedby the processor 610. The keypad 614 may be displayed on the display613. A SIM card 615 may be an integrated circuit which is used tosecurely store an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) andits related key, which are used to identify and authenticate subscriberson mobile telephony devices such as mobile phones and computers.

Referring to FIG. 19, a speaker 640 may output a result related to asound processed by the processor 610. A microphone 641 may receive aninput related to a sound to be used by the processor 610.

Hereinafter, a new access category and a queue to supportdelay-sensitive traffic, and a method for operating the new accesscategory and the queue are described.

As the wired/wireless traffic increases, the time delay-sensitivetraffic also increases. Traffic that is sensitive to the time delay is alot for real-time audio/video transmission. With the proliferation ofmultimedia devices, the necessity of transmitting time delay-sensitivetraffic in real time in a wireless environment has increased. In awireless environment, there may be more considerations to supportdelay-sensitive traffic than in a wired environment. Transmission in awireless environment is slower than transmission in a wired environment,and there may be a lot of ambient interference.

In a wireless local area network (WLAN), there is no channel monopoly bya central base station. In a WLAN system, terminals must compete equallyin an industrial scientific medical (ISM) band. Therefore, it may bemore difficult to support traffic that is relatively sensitive to timedelay in a WLAN system. Nevertheless, since time delay-sensitive trafficis increasing, WLAN technology to support time delay-sensitive trafficmay be required. Techniques for supporting time delay-sensitive trafficare described below.

The time delay may mean latency defined by the IEEE802.11ax task group.The time delay may mean the time from when a frame is received in thequeue of the medium access control (MAC) layer until the transmission inthe physical (PHY) layer is finished and an acknowledgment (ACK)/BlockACK is received from the receiving terminal, and the corresponding frameis deleted from the queue of the MAC layer.

Currently, IEEE 802.11 operates four queues for each terminal. FIG. 20is a diagram illustrating four queues of EDCA.

Referring to FIG. 20, the terminal may operate four queues. A queue maybe referred to as an access category. An access category for voice maybe referred to as AC_VO, an access category for video may be referred toas AC_VO, an access category for best effort may be referred to asAC_BE, and an access category for background may be referred to asAC_BK. AC_VO, AC_VI, AC_BE, AC_BK may have priority in channel access inthe order. The priority may be determined through an enhanceddistributed channel access (EDCA) parameter. An access point (AP) maydetermine an EDCA parameter and inform the terminal (for example, anon-AP STA). The UE shall operate according to the determined EDCAparameters. When a MAC service data unit (MSDU) arrives at the MAClayer, the priority of the MSDU, that is, an access category, may bedetermined according to a User Priority function (UP). The MSDU forwhich the access category is determined may be a MAC protocol data unit(MPDU) by adding a MAC header. The MPDU enters a queue for each accesscategory and can access a channel according to the EDCA parameterdetermined for each queue.

AC_VO and AC_VI may have priority over other access categories (forexample, AC_BE and AC_BK) in order to support latency-important trafficsuch as voice and video. However, according to the User Priorityfunction (UP), even for traffic that is not sensitive to latency, theaccess category may be determined as AC_VO or AC_VI according to theUE's determination. The terminal may use the same EDCA parameters asother UEs and may have to perform contention within the AC_VO and AC_VIchannels.

Therefore, it may be difficult to satisfy latency even if the traffic(for example, traffic requiring low latency) whose latency is importantis transmitted with AC_VO and AC_VI allocated.

Traffic requiring low latency, sensitive to time delay, or important fortime delay is, hereinafter, referred to as latency traffic. Hereinafter,a method of separately defining a queue for latency traffic isdescribed.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an EDCA queue and a low latency queue.

Referring to FIG. 21, in addition to the existing four queues of theEDCA, a separate queue (low latency, LL) for low latency is added, sothat five cues (LL, VO, VI, BE, BK) can be operated. For example, thelow latency queue may be physically implemented and operated all thetime, or implemented only logically and may be activated/deactivateddepending on the situation. For example, a separate channel accessmethod may be used for transmission through a low latency queue. Forexample, a separate EDCA parameter may be used for transmission througha low latency queue or a contention-free method may be used. Forexample, when the low latency queue is physically implemented, onlytraffic that satisfies the conditions agreed upon by the terminal andthe AP may be assigned to the low latency queue. For example, when thelow latency queue is logically implemented, when the traffic that meetsthe conditions agreed upon by the terminal and the AP occurs, the lowlatency queue may be activated, and the traffic may be assigned to thelow latency queue. After the transmission of the traffic is completed,the low latency queue may be deactivated again.

Hereinafter, a case in which a low latency queue is logicallyimplemented will be described. A procedure for transmitting andreceiving a signal between the terminal (that is, non-AP STA) and the APwhen the low latency queue is activated or deactivated is described.Even if the low latency queue is physically implemented, it can also beapplied to the procedure of notifying whether to allocate traffic to thelow latency queue.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method fortransmitting a low latency queue activation and termination signal.

FIG. 22 shows an example of method 1 for transmitting a low latencyqueue activation signal. The example in FIG. 22 is equally applicable toan uplink case or a downlink case.

When a low latency queue for latency traffic is activated based on acondition agreed in advance between the terminal and the AP (forexample, when traffic that meets the agreed condition occurs), theterminal can transmit, to the AP, a PHY protocol data unit (PPDU)including the uplink latency data (for example, low latency requireddata) and information that the low latency queue is activated, using thelow latency queue. Information that the low latency queue is activatedmay be included in the MAC header of the PPDU.

AP may receive low latency queue activation information. The AP can knowthat the low latency queue is activated. The AP may additionallyallocate uplink resources to the terminal for smooth transmission oflatency traffic. Transmission of latency traffic may be performedthrough the transmission of a plurality of latency data. For example,when latency traffic is generated, the terminal may transmit latencydata including a portion of the latency traffic through the PPDU.Latency data including the last part of the latency traffic may betransmitted along with low latency queue termination information. Lowlatency queue termination information may be included in the MAC headerof the PPDU. The terminal can deactivate the low latency queue.

AP may receive low latency queue termination information. AP may adjustthe uplink resource allocation based on the low latency queuetermination information (that is, it may reduce the uplink resourceallocated to the terminal).

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method fortransmitting a low latency queue activation signal and a terminationsignal.

FIG. 23 shows an example of method 2 for transmitting a low latencyqueue activation signal. Method 2 is a method using a management frame.When the low latency queue for latency traffic is activated based on acondition agreed in advance between the terminal and the AP (forexample, when traffic that meets the agreed condition occurs), theterminal may transmit a low latency queue activation signal (forexample, queue setup frame) before transmitting uplink latency data (forexample, data requiring low latency). The low latency queue activationsignal (for example, queue setup frame) may include informationinforming that the low latency queue is activated and other information.

The AP may receive a low latency queue activation signal (for example, aqueue setup frame). The AP can know that the low latency queue isactivated. The AP may additionally allocate uplink resources to theterminal for smooth transmission of latency traffic. Transmission oflatency traffic may be performed through the transmission of a pluralityof latency data. For example, when latency traffic is generated, theterminal may transmit latency data including a portion of the latencytraffic through the PPDU. After all the latency traffic is transmitted,the terminal may transmit a signal (for example, a queue setup frame)including low latency queue termination information. The terminal candeactivate the low latency queue.

AP may receive a low latency queue termination signal (for example,queue setup frame). AP may adjust the uplink resource allocation basedon the low latency queue termination signal (for example, queue setupframe) (for example, AP may reduce the uplink resource allocated to theterminal).

The embodiments in FIGS. 22 and 23 are a method of activating the lowlatency queue for the terminal for low latency traffic when the lowlatency queue activation condition is satisfied. Since the low latencyqueue for latency traffic gives special priority for latency traffic, itmay affect other traffic. In other words, low latency queues may degradethe overall performance of the network.

Therefore, even if the generated traffic already satisfies the agreedlow latency queue condition, a method for the terminal to activate thelow latency queue only after receiving a low latency queue activationapproval signal from the AP may be considered. Hereinafter, methods inwhich the low latency queue is activated when the terminal receives alow latency queue activation approval signal (for example, grant) fromthe AP are described.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method fortransmitting a low latency queue activation signal and a terminationsignal.

FIG. 24 may be based on method 1 of FIG. 22. When latency traffic (forexample, traffic that satisfies the agreed condition) is generated by acondition agreed between the terminal and the AP in advance, theterminal may transmit a PHY protocol data unit (PPDU) including uplinklatency data (for example, low latency required data) and informationthat latency traffic is generated using the low latency queue to the AP.Information indicating that latency traffic is generated may be includedin the MAC header of the PPDU.

AP may receive latency traffic generation information (for example, lowlatency queue activation signal). AP may determine whether to activatethe low latency queue for latency traffic reported from the terminal.When the AP decides to activate the low latency queue, it may transmit alow latency queue approval signal (for example, a grant) to theterminal. The low latency queue approval signal may be included in theMAC header of the PPDU including downlink data for the terminal, ortransmitted through a separate frame (for example, a management frame).When the terminal receives a low latency queue approval signal from theAP, it can transmit latency data using a low latency queue.

After the latency traffic is generated, the latency data transmittedalong with the information indicating that the latency traffic isgenerated may be transmitted through a general access category (forexample, AC_VO, AC_VI, etc.) because the low latency queue is notactivated. Otherwise, for example, after latency traffic is generated,the latency data which is transmitted together with the information thatthe latency traffic is generated can be set to be transmitted using thelow latency queue exceptionally even though the low latency queue is notactivated.

When the AP decides to activate the low latency queue (for example, whentransmitting a low latency queue activation acknowledgment signal),uplink resources may be additionally allocated to the terminal forsmooth transmission of uplink latency traffic. Transmission of latencytraffic may be performed through the transmission of a plurality oflatency data. For example, when latency traffic is generated, theterminal may transmit latency data including a portion of the latencytraffic through the PPDU. Latency data including the last part of thelatency traffic may be transmitted along with low latency queuetermination information. Low latency queue termination information maybe included in the MAC header of the PPDU. The terminal can deactivatethe low latency queue.

AP may receive low latency queue termination information. AP may adjustthe uplink resource allocation based on the low latency queuetermination information (for example, it may reduce the uplink resourceallocated to the terminal).

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method fortransmitting a low latency queue activation signal and a terminationsignal.

FIG. 25 may be based on method 2 of FIG. 23. Method 2 is a method usinga management frame. When latency traffic (for example, traffic thatsatisfies the agreed condition) is generated by a condition previouslyagreed between the UE and the AP, the terminal may transmit a lowlatency queue activation signal (for example, a queue setup requestframe) before transmitting uplink latency data (for example, datarequiring low delay). The low latency queue activation signal (forexample, latency traffic generation information) may include informationrelated to latency traffic generation and other information.

AP may receive latency traffic generation information (for example, alow latency queue activation signal). AP may determine whether toactivate the low latency queue for latency traffic reported from theterminal. When the AP decides to activate the low latency queue, it maytransmit a low latency queue approval signal (for example, a grant) tothe terminal. For example, the low latency queue grant signal (forexample, queue setup grant frame) may be transmitted through a separatemanagement frame (management frame). Alternatively, the low latencyqueue acknowledgment signal may be included in the MAC header of thePPDU including downlink data as shown in FIG. 24.

When the AP decides to activate the low latency queue (for example, whenit sends a low latency queue activation approval signal), uplinkresources may be additionally allocated to the terminal for smoothtransmission of uplink latency traffic. Transmission of latency trafficmay be performed through the transmission of a plurality of latencydata. For example, when latency traffic is generated, the terminal maytransmit latency data including a portion of the latency traffic throughthe PPDU. After all the latency traffic is transmitted, the terminal maytransmit a signal (for example, a queue setup frame) including lowlatency queue termination information. The terminal can deactivate thelow latency queue.

AP may receive a low latency queue termination signal (for example, aqueue setup frame). AP may adjust the uplink resource allocation basedon the low latency queue termination signal (for example, queue setupframe) (for example, it may reduce the uplink resource allocated to theterminal).

In the embodiments of FIGS. 22 to 25, the activation and terminationsignals for the low latency queue for latency traffic may include thefollowing information.

Traffic identifier (TID): TID information of latency traffic may beincluded. The AP may know that the traffic transmitted to the TID wastransmitted through a low latency queue for latency traffic. Forexample, if there are multiple traffic in the low latency queue, the TIDof all traffic may be transmitted at once.

Activation condition: Condition information in which the low latencyqueue for latency traffic is activated may be included. Alternatively,condition information in which latency traffic occurred may be included(if a grant is required to activate the low latency queue). For example,if several conditions for low latency queue activation are agreed upon,it may include information about whether the low latency queue isactivated by satisfying any of the above several conditions (or whetherto request approval of the low latency queue activation). For example,when a condition for activating the low latency queue when traffic witha delay requirement of fewer than 10 msec occurs, a condition foractivating the low latency queue when the delay request amount is 20msec and traffic with a requested throughput of 10 Mbps or more occurs,and the like are agreed, the terminal may inform the AP what conditionthe traffic satisfies. The AP may allocate an appropriate resource tothe terminal based on the activation condition received from theterminal. When the AP grants a low latency queue activation to theterminal, the AP may determine whether to approve the low latency queueactivation based on the latency traffic generation condition (activationcondition).

Current status: Information related to a time when traffic occurred,other specific information about traffic, and current status of a queuemay be included. The AP may consider current status information whenallocating resources to the terminal.

Lifetime: Lifetime information of traffic may be included. When the UEcan know the lifetime of the generated traffic, the UE may inform the APof the lifetime information of the traffic.

Termination condition: The activated low latency queue may includecondition information for termination. In general, when all latencytraffic is transmitted, the low latency queue is terminated, but even ifall the latency traffic is not transmitted, the low latency queue may beterminated depending on external or internal conditions. For example, inthe downlink, when the load of the entire network is too much, and it isdifficult to support latency traffic anymore, the low latency queuecould be terminated.

Operation method: Information related to the transmission method of thelow latency queue may be included.

The activation and termination signals of the low latency queue forlatency traffic may include all or part of the above information. Someof the information may be omitted from the activation and terminationsignals of the low latency queue, and additional information could beincluded.

The method (Method 1) of FIGS. 22 and 24 may have a relatively smalloverhead because the MAC header is used. If there is no need to obtain agrant from the AP, the initial delay is short because data can betransmitted using a low latency queue from the beginning. Even when agrant is received from the AP, since data can be transmitted initially,the initial delay may be short. On the other hand, since the informationthat can be contained in the MAC header is limited, it may not includeall of the information defined above (for example, TID, activationcondition, current state, lifetime, termination condition, operationmethod, etc.). For example, information for the AP to allocateadditional resources to the terminal for latency traffic may beinsufficient.

According to the method (method 2) in FIGS. 23 and 25, since a separatelow-delay activation signal is transmitted, it is possible to transmitmore information than the MAC header. Therefore, in the case of uplink,the AP may allocate an appropriate uplink resource to the terminal.Meanwhile, since a separate signal is transmitted, it has a relativelylarge overhead. The initial delay may be long because the low latencyqueue activation signal must first be transmitted through a managementframe before data is transmitted.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a STA operation.

Referring to FIG. 26, a STA may perform association with an AP (S2610).The STA may agree on a low latency queue activation condition with theAP (S2620). When the low latency traffic that meets the low latencyqueue activation condition agreed in S2620 occurs (S2630), the STA maytransmit a low latency queue activation signal (S2640). For example, theSTA may transmit a PHY protocol data unit (PPDU) including uplinklatency data (for example, data requiring low latency) and informationthat latency traffic is generated, using a low latency queue to the AP.Information indicating that latency traffic is generated may be includedin the MAC header of the PPDU. For example, the STA may transmit a lowlatency queue activation signal (for example, queue setup request frame)before transmitting uplink latency data (for example, data requiring lowlatency). The low latency queue activation signal (for example, latencytraffic generation information) may include information related tolatency traffic generation and other information.

The STA may receive a low latency queue activation approval signal (forexample, grant) from the AP (S2650). When the AP decides to activate thelow latency queue, it may transmit a low latency queue approval signal(for example, grant) to the terminal. The low latency queue approvalsignal may be included in the MAC header of the PPDU including downlinkdata for the terminal, or transmitted through a separate frame (forexample, a management frame). When the terminal receives a low latencyqueue approval signal from the AP, it can transmit latency data using alow latency queue (S2660).

After the latency traffic is generated, the latency data, which istransmitted along with the information indicating that the latencytraffic is generated, may be transmitted through a general accesscategory (for example, AC_VO, AC_VI, etc.) because the low latency queueis not activated. Otherwise, for example, after latency traffic isgenerated, the latency data, which is transmitted together with theinformation that the latency traffic is generated, can be set to betransmitted using the low latency queue exceptionally, even though thelow latency queue is not activated.

When the AP decides to activate the low latency queue (for example, whentransmitting a low latency queue activation approval signal), it mayadditionally allocate uplink resources to the terminal for smoothtransmission of uplink latency traffic. Transmission of latency trafficmay be performed through the transmission of a plurality of latencydata. For example, when latency traffic is generated, the terminal maytransmit latency data including a portion of the latency traffic throughthe PPDU. For example, the latency data including the last part of thelatency traffic may be transmitted with low latency queue terminationinformation (S2670). Low latency queue termination information may beincluded in the MAC header of the PPDU. The terminal can deactivate thelow latency queue. For example, after all latency traffic istransmitted, the terminal may transmit a signal (for example, a queuesetup frame) including low latency queue termination information(S2670). The terminal can deactivate the low latency queue.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of an AP operation.

Referring to FIG. 27, the AP may be associated with the STA (S2710). TheAP may agree on a low latency queue activation condition with the STA(S2720). AP may receive a low latency queue activation signal from theSTA (S2730). For example, the AP may receive from the STA a PHY protocoldata unit (PPDU) including uplink latency data (for example, datarequiring low latency) and information that latency traffic isgenerated, through a low latency queue. For example, informationindicating that latency traffic is generated may be included in the MACheader of the PPDU. For example, the AP may receive a low latency queueactivation signal (for example, a queue setup request frame) before theSTA transmits uplink latency data (For example, data requiring lowlatency). The low latency queue activation signal (for example, latencytraffic generation information) may include information related tolatency traffic generation and other information.

AP may receive latency traffic generation information (for example, alow latency queue activation signal). The AP may determine whether toactivate the low latency queue for the latency traffic reported from theterminal (S2740). When the AP decides to activate the low latency queue,it may transmit a low latency queue approval signal (for example, agrant) to the terminal (S2750). The low latency queue approval signalmay be included in the MAC header of the PPDU including downlink datafor the terminal, or transmitted through a separate frame (for example,a management frame). When the terminal receives a low latency queueapproval signal from the AP, it can transmit latency data using a lowlatency queue.

After the latency traffic is generated, the latency data transmittedalong with the information indicating that the latency traffic isgenerated may be transmitted through a general access category (forexample, AC_VO, AC_VI, etc.) because the low latency queue is notactivated. Otherwise, for example, after latency traffic is generated,the latency data, transmitted together with the information that thelatency traffic is generated, can be set to be transmitted using the lowlatency queue exceptionally, even though the low latency queue is notactivated.

When the AP decides to activate the low latency queue (for example, whentransmitting a low latency queue activation acknowledgment signal),uplink resources could be additionally allocated to the terminal forsmooth transmission of uplink latency traffic. AP may receive latencytraffic (for example, low latency traffic) from the STA through the lowlatency queue (S2760). Transmission of latency traffic may be performedthrough the transmission of a plurality of latency data. For example,when latency traffic is generated, the terminal may transmit latencydata including a portion of the latency traffic through the PPDU.Latency data including the last part of the latency traffic may betransmitted along with low latency queue termination information. Thelow latency queue termination information may be transmitted in the MACheader of the PPDU, or may be transmitted through a separate frame (forexample, a management frame). The terminal may deactivate the lowlatency queue.

AP may receive low latency queue termination information (S2770). AP mayadjust the uplink resource allocation based on the low latency queuetermination information (for example, it may reduce the uplink resourceallocated to the terminal).

Some of the detailed steps shown in the example of FIGS. 26 and 27 maybe omitted, and other steps may be added. For example, the step ofassociating with the AP of FIG. 26 (S2610), the step of agreeing on thelow latency queue condition (S2620), the step of low latency trafficgeneration (S2630), the step of transmitting a low latency queuetermination signal (S2670) can be omitted. The order of the steps shownin FIGS. 26 and 27 may vary.

The technical features of the present specification described above maybe applied to various devices and methods. For example, theabove-described technical features of the present specification may beperformed/supported through the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and/or 19. Forexample, the technical features of the present specification describedabove may be applied only to a part of FIGS. 1 and/or 19. For example,the technical features of the present specification described above maybe implemented based on the processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1, maybe implemented based on the processors 111 and 121 and the memories 112and 122 of FIG. 1, or may be implemented based on the processor 610 andthe memory 620 of FIG. 19. For example, a device of the presentspecification includes a memory and a processor operatively coupled tothe memory. The processor may be configured to receive a low latencyqueue activation signal, determine whether to activate the low latencyqueue, and transmit a low latency queue activation approval signal.

The technical features of the present specification may be implementedbased on a computer readable medium (CRM). For example, at least one CRMproposed by the present specification may include instructions which,based on being executed by at least one processor of a station (STA) ina wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Network) system,causes the STA to perform operations. The operations may includereceiving a low latency queue activation signal, determining whether toactivate the low latency queue, and transmitting a low latency queueactivation approval signal. The instructions stored in the CRM of thepresent specification may be executed by at least one processor. Atleast one processor related to CRM in the present specification may bethe processors 111 and 121 or the processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG.1, or the processor 610 of FIG. 19. Meanwhile, the CRM of the presentspecification may be the memories 112 and 122 of FIG. 1, the memory 620of FIG. 19, or a separate external memory/storage medium/disk.

The foregoing technical features of the present specification areapplicable to various applications or business models. For example, theforegoing technical features may be applied for wireless communicationof a device supporting artificial intelligence (AI).

Artificial intelligence refers to a field of study on artificialintelligence or methodologies for creating artificial intelligence, andmachine learning refers to a field of study on methodologies fordefining and solving various issues in the area of artificialintelligence. Machine learning is also defined as an algorithm forimproving the performance of an operation through steady experiences ofthe operation.

An artificial neural network (ANN) is a model used in machine learningand may refer to an overall problem-solving model that includesartificial neurons (nodes) forming a network by combining synapses. Theartificial neural network may be defined by a pattern of connectionbetween neurons of different layers, a learning process of updating amodel parameter, and an activation function generating an output value.

The artificial neural network may include an input layer, an outputlayer, and optionally one or more hidden layers. Each layer includes oneor more neurons, and the artificial neural network may include synapsesthat connect neurons. In the artificial neural network, each neuron mayoutput a function value of an activation function of input signals inputthrough a synapse, weights, and deviations.

A model parameter refers to a parameter determined through learning andincludes a weight of synapse connection and a deviation of a neuron. Ahyper-parameter refers to a parameter to be set before learning in amachine learning algorithm and includes a learning rate, the number ofiterations, a mini-batch size, and an initialization function.

Learning an artificial neural network may be intended to determine amodel parameter for minimizing a loss function. The loss function may beused as an index for determining an optimal model parameter in a processof learning the artificial neural network.

Machine learning may be classified into supervised learning,unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning.

Supervised learning refers to a method of training an artificial neuralnetwork with a label given for training data, wherein the label mayindicate a correct answer (or result value) that the artificial neuralnetwork needs to infer when the training data is input to the artificialneural network. Unsupervised learning may refer to a method of trainingan artificial neural network without a label given for training data.Reinforcement learning may refer to a training method for training anagent defined in an environment to choose an action or a sequence ofactions to maximize a cumulative reward in each state.

Machine learning implemented with a deep neural network (DNN) includinga plurality of hidden layers among artificial neural networks isreferred to as deep learning, and deep learning is part of machinelearning. Hereinafter, machine learning is construed as including deeplearning.

The foregoing technical features may be applied to wirelesscommunication of a robot.

Robots may refer to machinery that automatically process or operate agiven task with own ability thereof. In particular, a robot having afunction of recognizing an environment and autonomously making ajudgment to perform an operation may be referred to as an intelligentrobot.

Robots may be classified into industrial, medical, household, militaryrobots and the like according uses or fields. A robot may include anactuator or a driver including a motor to perform various physicaloperations, such as moving a robot joint. In addition, a movable robotmay include a wheel, a brake, a propeller, and the like in a driver torun on the ground or fly in the air through the driver.

The foregoing technical features may be applied to a device supportingextended reality.

Extended reality collectively refers to virtual reality (VR), augmentedreality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). VR technology is a computergraphic technology of providing a real-world object and background onlyin a CG image, AR technology is a computer graphic technology ofproviding a virtual CG image on a real object image, and MR technologyis a computer graphic technology of providing virtual objects mixed andcombined with the real world.

MR technology is similar to AR technology in that a real object and avirtual object are displayed together. However, a virtual object is usedas a supplement to a real object in AR technology, whereas a virtualobject and a real object are used as equal statuses in MR technology.

XR technology may be applied to a head-mount display (HMD), a head-updisplay (HUD), a mobile phone, a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a desktopcomputer, a TV, digital signage, and the like. A device to which XRtechnology is applied may be referred to as an XR device.

The claims recited in the present specification may be combined in avariety of ways. For example, the technical features of the method claimof the present specification may be combined to be implemented as adevice, and the technical features of the device claims of the presentspecification may be combined to be implemented by a method. Inaddition, the technical characteristics of the method claim of thepresent specification and the technical characteristics of the deviceclaim may be combined to be implemented as a device, and the technicalcharacteristics of the method claim of the present specification and thetechnical characteristics of the device claim may be combined to beimplemented by a method.

1. A method in a wireless local area network system, the methodcomprising: transmitting, by a station (STA), a low latency queueactivation signal; receiving, by the STA, a low latency queue activationapproval signal; and transmitting, by the STA, data via a low latencyqueue.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises,transmitting, by the STA, a termination signal for the low latencyqueue.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the low latency queue is usedfor traffic requiring a latency below a threshold,
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the method further comprises, receiving, by the STAfrom an AP, additional allocation of resources for transmission of thedata.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the low latency queue has ahighest priority among queues for all access categories.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the low latency queue activation signal includesinformation related to traffic identifier (TID), a low latency queueactivation condition, traffic occurred time, traffic size, trafficlifetime.
 7. A station (STA) in a wireless local area network system,the STA comprises, a transceiver for receiving a radio signal; and aprocessor being coupled to the transceiver, wherein the processor isconfigured to: transmit a low latency queue activation signal; receive alow latency queue activation approval signal; and transmit data via alow latency queue.
 8. The STA of claim 7, wherein the processor isfurther configured to, transmit a termination signal for the low latencyqueue.
 9. The STA of claim 7, wherein the low latency queue is used fortraffic requiring a latency below a threshold,
 10. The STA of claim 7,wherein the processor is further configured to, receive, from an AP,additional allocation of resources for transmission of the data.
 11. TheSTA of claim 7, wherein the low latency queue has a highest priorityamong queues for all access categories.
 12. The STA of claim 7, whereinthe low latency queue activation signal includes information related totraffic identifier (TID), a low latency queue activation condition,traffic occurred time, traffic size, traffic lifetime.
 13. A method in awireless local area network system, the method comprising: receiving, bya station (STA), a low latency queue activation signal; determining, bythe STA, whether to activate the low latency queue; and transmitting, bythe STA, a low latency queue activation approval signal. 14-16.(canceled)